Development and deployment of Autonomous scale Submarine Models for hydrodynamic testing of U.S. Navy submarine maneuvering characteristics

Understanding the hydrodynamic maneuvering capabilities of our Navy's submarines is a vital aspect of submarine design and in-service life. In the Hydrodynamics Testing Branch at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (NSWCCD), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) that are scale models of the Navy's submarines are developed to provide high fidelity data on maneuvering characteristics. These vehicles not only function as AUVs with a standard suite of navigation functionality, but they also perform a vehicle maneuver to replicate the full scale submarine's capability and collect hundreds of channels of data that are used for analysis and simulation validation. The Autonomous Submarine Models are tested in unique indoor and outdoor facilities that provide extensive technological and personnel support for vehicle maneuvering testing and analysis. This paper describes the technology and innovations that are used in the hydrodynamic testing of autonomous scale models of our Navy's submarines including control, navigation, data collection, and test deployment.